Bulgarians Only Trust EU, Army, Church

The Bulgarian Armed Forces, the Orthodox Church, the European Union and universities are the only institutions in Bulgaria enjoying "trust of around and more than 50%," a survey has shown.

The representatives survey, conducted by the Open Society Institute - Sofia, shows "the majority of citizens express permanent distrust of the main institutions of representative democracy."

"More than 2/3 of the citizens say they do not trust the National Assembly and the political parties, and more than half of the respondents do not trust the government and the courts," the OSF states on its website.

According to the prevailing public attitudes, the organized crime exerts influence on the political parties in the country (according to 64% of the respondents) and the change of ruling parties does not lead to a significant change in the overall state policies (according to 62% of the respondents), which means that the citizens see no actual competition between the parties.

On the other hand, it notes the majority of Bulgarian citizens are "convinced that their fundamental political and civil rights are protected and they may freely exercise them within the existing democratic structure of the country."

Note is also taken on the fact that "considerable parts of the population remain isolated from public life," neither participating in decision making nor feeling represented in local and central authorities.

The survey studies the public attitudes towards the fundamental constitutional values – democracy, rule of law and protection of the fundamental human rights, which at the same time are principal values of the EU member states.

As of 2016, 49% of adult Bulgarians thought democracy is the best form of government for Bulgaria, while 29% expressed the opposite opinion and 22% remained undecided.

"There is almost no public support for the reproduction of foreign models of government that are not compatible with the values of liberal democracy."

Bulgaria should draw on the example of Germany, the United Kingdom as Switzerland as "best governed countries," according to the respondents, among whom nearly 1/3 specify Germany as an example of good governance.

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